This
series of stories for children aged 6-11 is based on the adventures
of two earthworms, Sammy and Mr. Sammy, and the two girls, Loring
(8) and Clara (6), who love them.

The
adventures are fantastical and funny. The writing contains wacky
wordplay, rhyme, and the confusions of humans learning about a worm's
world - and vice-versa. Besides the anthropomorphic worms, we also
meet a bumptious bluebird and some very skeptical neighbors. Future
stories feature an opera-singing centipede and a ticklish platypus.

Click on any of the images to view larger versions.

The stories
are based on some 100 hours of spontaneous storytelling captured on tape,
so there exists more source material for future stories. They have been
read and honed in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade classes at Swarthmore-Rutledge
School in Swarthmore, PA, some of whose students provided the drawings
that accompany these drafts:

SHOOT
THE CHUTE
In the opening story, Loring and Clara meet Sammy the Worm and learn they
can talk to each other. The girls are very sad about the recent divorce
of their parents. Sammy finds a way to make them laugh again, by showing
them the assortment of dives he has improvised from the birdbath in the
flower garden. We also meet Sammy's father, whose southern expressions
are often confusing, and sometimes amusing. Word Count: 2190

BELLIFLIES
Clara accidentally slings Sammy's father over the garage, but luckily
his cousin, a bluebird, rescues him from harm. They then proceed to put
on a show: Mr. Sammy and Cudn' Cate recreating some of the acts from their
"Wormville" days, Sammy playing his blazoo, and Clara dancing in her pink
tutu. Loring is afraid to perform in public - "be!liflies," Mr. Sammy
calls it - until Mr. Sammy gets stuck in rhyme and Loring must come to
the rescue. Word Count: 2617

JUST
FOR THE HECK OF IT
Mr. Sammy builds a bicycle, but when he and his son try to pedal it, they
end up crashing into a gargoyle and flying through the air to land in
neighbor Kathy's cup of iced coffee. Kathy is disgusted by worms in her
coffee. Mr. Sammy, jazzed by so much caffeine in his system, suddenly
springs at Kathy, who knocks him silly. Loring, to avoid the suspicions
of Kathy's daughter, Taylor, has to fling Sammy over the garage like a
stick. When all is sorted out, the four friends discover a way to ride
a bicycle built for four--just for the heck of it. Word Count: 2685